The end for exits and opinions

Article 19(1)(a) – the epitome of banter rights in India shrunk a little. Opinion polls and exit polls have been recently banned by a notification from the election watch dogs 48 hours prior to the date of Assembly or Lok Sabha elections.

Following is an excerpt of the notification :
“No result of any opinion poll or exit poll conducted at any time shall be published, publicised or disseminated in any manner, whatsoever, by print, electronic or any other media, at any time during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for closing of poll in an election held in a single phase; and in a multi-phased election, and in the case of elections in different States announced simultaneously, at any time during the period starting from 48 hours before the hour fixed for closing of poll in the first phase of the election and till the poll is concluded in all the phases in all States.”

Some immediate questions:

1. How does a voter decision change only in the last 48 hours by watching what Prannoy, Rajdeep or Arnab have to say? Obviously 5 years of fooling around by the government is of no consequence.

2. Is it not a part of our fundamental right to free speech to hear and to be heard?


3. Will a comment from Prannoy saying “I think BJP will lead by 007 seats in UP” lead to “dissemination” of opinion poll information? So what can can the channels and papers actually say?

We can expect some mindless and directionless banter from our channels (perennially lacking in content) in the days preceding the elections, since they essentially cannot talk about who might win.

Also interesting to see will be some mudslinging and erratic litigations by losing parties on news channels for comments made by them.

-Shashank Bijapur

About The English Media And The Elections

How much influence does the English media - news channels, newspapers, weekly and fortnightly magazines all put together have on the electorate?

• My sense is, not much not at all. It is perhaps the same set of people who follow all of these and the audience is not mutually exclusive. At the end of the day, (the day never ends though, for these 24 hour news channels!), I don't think it really matters to the electorate how loud, obscene, shrill, vicious the English media is, while the media would like to believe otherwise. And what about the urban areas where they seem to have some influence? Two things, one - the urban constituencies aren't necessarily urban in terms of their voter profile. While there may be pockets of prosperity, there are large areas which are underdeveloped and people will still continue to vote based on factors they have been for years - caste, alcohol, free television sets, money, promise of better food, clothing and shelter. Second - I am yet to find enough proof to be convinced that the urban audience, your young, upwardly mobile, techie/executive type is honestly bothered about anything other than where the next party is, no not the political party. Alright, I am exaggerating, but then it's sad to see little or no involvement from the urban audience in trying, first to understand the functions, actions and people in our governance processes and then trying to change what they do not like by being a part of the system. Can't blame them either, if what they rely on for information and opinion, does not do a good job in the first place. And what about initiatives like these and people like these? Good for feeling good, eyeballs and higher TRP ratings, but what after the elections? It's back to their business and the media will find something else to write, show and scream about. I pray I am proved wrong and something helpful comes out of it.

I am totally dismayed at the collective disdain and lack of acceptance tolerance and respect the news channels and some of their prominent anchors have for those from the BJP. While that doesn't take me any closer to the BJP, one gets a feeling as if all of them have taken a decision to ridicule, rile and object to anything that those representing the BJP say on the talkshows. Sudheendra Kulkarni, Swapan Dasgupta, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Arun Jaitley are probably some of the most articulate, intelligent and coherent people one has come across on Indian television in recent times. What scores for me is how gracefully they carry themselves in the middle of the mud and noise floating around. Compare that with how Manish Tewari, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Jayanthi Natarajan and Ashwini Kumar carry themselves and you get the feeling that their agenda is not to convey to the audience what their points of view are, but to rubbish what their opponents say, with their trademark wry smiles and arrogant smirks. Also, the BJP team appears to be well-prepared and seems to have been briefed properly, for they seem to speak in one voice. The Congress team, on the other hand, pun unintended, seem to have not gotten their act together yet.


PS. Have to write about my experiences in applying for the voter ID card and now waiting to get it. It has been a lot of effort, mostly due to lack of proper information and clear communication from the authorities, but I do hope to get the card soon.

Choosing 'No Vote' | Multi Seat Constituencies | Compulsory Voting

Choosing No Vote

A lot of us might have received the chain mail about choosing not to vote and suggesting that if the number of people who invoke the right to 49-o is more than the winning candidates vote count, a re-poll is ordered with something amounting to a permanent ban on the previous candidature.

I'm sure we'd have liked the idea, considering the huge disgust for our politicians , believing that it serves our non-serving politicians well. (Huh! Pun).

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen (and not children, because they can't vote!), that is not the right interpretation of Rule 49-O which the chain mail (or the person who started it) considers to be rule for such no vote.

Kind folk(s?) at 49-O - The Real Deal have taken the trouble of clarifying this to us. Here are the details -

What is Rule 49-O of the Conduct of Elections, in a nutshell?

There are a couple of different explanations that people have adopted to make sense of 49-O, the one we found most convincing was posted by a Lawyer based in Mumbai. I’ve tried to keep this as simple as possible, so as not to read like a government regulation.

Prior to 1992, India voted physically, not electronically. So every single vote was accounted for on paper, given the fact that the voter was signed into the polling station physically and a ballot paper with the selected candidate was physically accepted from him/her. Today, India votes electronically.

Now given the present scenario, a voter is physically signed into the station but votes privately, by pressing a button on the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine). What stops him from NOT pressing that button in the event that he doesn’t wish to vote for the contesting candidature. This STILL isn't where the problem lies. Now you have X number of people signed in, and X-1 votes. Nobody can trace who didn’t vote, hence that vote can be misused. It is for this reason that Rule 49-O exists. Via this rule, a voter is given an opportunity to sign a separate form (Form 17-A), and submit it to the presiding officer, thereby putting this decision on record. This clears up the haze when votes are being tallied.

And this is by far, the only purpose of Rule 49-o of the Conduct of Elections in India.

Thanks folks for the good work. There have been proposals for reforms of this rule, but things have not moved and there is a petition that is being planned to get things moving. Head over to the site and do your bit if you feel about it.


Multi Seat Constituencies

From this Wikipedia Page on Indian Election System -

The first general elections were conducted in India in 1951, for 489 constituencies representing 26 Indian states. At that time, there were a few two-seat and even a three-seat constituency. The multi-seat constituencies were discontinued in the 1960s.

Very well!

Compulsory Voting

Voting is not compulsory in India and in my opinion, it should be. That way, I would have gotten my Voter ID sooner.

In countries where voting is compulsory, here are the steps taken to ensure that everyone votes.

• Belgian voters who repeatedly fail to vote in elections may be subject to disenfranchisement.

• Goods and services provided by public offices may be denied to those failing to vote in Peru and Greece.
  

• If a Bolivian voter fails to participate in an election, the citizen may be denied withdrawal of his or her salary from the bank for three months.

• In Turkey, according to a law passed by the parliament in 1986, if an eligible elector does not cast a vote in the elections, he or she has to pay a fee of about 5 YTL (3 US dollars).

(Source)

Why The Third Front Won't Fly? And A Few More Thoughts

Simply because the English media doesn't have enough people who work for them to vote for the constituents of the Third Front. Even if each and everyone remotely connected to the English media were to vote for those from the Third Front, that will still not be enough for the Third Front to get enough seats to justify the newsreel and the newsprint being wasted used for their coverage.

Except for the English media, I don't think anyone, even those who belong to the Third Front, seriously believes that the Third Front will be a formidable force in determining the power structure in the 15th Lok Sabha. With BJD, BSP and AIADMK not having openly come out in full support of such a front, all the bargaining that the Third Front could do will be on the strength of the TDP-TRS combine in Andhra Pradesh. Without the full support of the BJD, BSP and AIADMK and a common policy document to hold the constituents together, which hopefully they truly believe in and follow, the Third Front will continue to remain a motley bunch of have-beens and trying-to-bes whose idea is bought only by their heads and by the English media.

But then, these are elections in India, and like they say, anything can happen! Whatever happens, it will be a delight for those following the Indian politics closely.

Trivia: The polling station in Banej village in the Una segment of Junagadh Lok Sabha constituency, Gujarat has the unique claim to being the only polling station in the country that caters to only one elector - Guru Shree Bharatdasji Bapu, a priest of a Shiva temple in the middle of the Gir Forest.

PS. Sagarikaji, whatever you may say about Naveen Patnaik in this article is fair, but please take it that Rahul Gandhi will not be able to make any difference to the electoral fortunes of his party. Why am I saying this? Because I have a feeling of what is coming next from you and I expect a lot of baba-propping by you. Hope you will disappoint me and talk/write about something that really matters.

PPS. Note to self - Write about experiences from registering for the Voter ID. Fairly smooth and simple process.

PPPS. Can anyone from the English media please come up with a five point four point definition of what exactly is Hindutva Brand Of Politics? I am particularly interested in knowing this from the fresh-out-college-of-masscom college-I-know-it-all-thrusting-mikes-and-questions types. They are better off covering parties and telling us what are people wearing (or not wearing), and not taking political journalism to even lower depths.

PPPS. Note to self - Make a list of all the terms connected to Indian Politics that I hate/begun to hate. Words which are needlessly concocted, words used without the meaning being understood, words used because that brings in more advertising money or that brings in those few thousand eyeballs more and a few hundred clicks more. Example - Hindutva Brand Of Politics, Moditva, Secularism (Huh!) and such.

PPPPS. For all that this man is, the least one expects from a particpant in a TV debate is respect and consideration for people on the other side. I somehow find him to be very self-absorbed, rigid and more often than not, arrogant and that spoils the entire spirit of a debate. But Sir, you are not to be blamed, you are only building your brand and speaking for those who stand to gain from your seemingly articulate and forceful pushing of the agenda. It is the media, who for those few extra TRP ratings, bring you in front of the camera and make a mess of the debate. Here's something more about the man. I know most of the questions in the Q&A columns are cooked by either a very bored or a very excited junior correspondent or a copy editor, but at least the responses should seem to be appropriate. If it sells, so be it. Sad, but it is that way.

But What Will TV Do?

Borrowing the title from K's post on his very informative and insightful blog. The Press Council of India has come out with a set of guidelines for election coverage and K asks - What about the TV channels? Considering the (unfair?) fare they have been dishing out, I am already dreading the prospect of having to follow them for the election news.

What I find interesting from the guidelines is the note on the pre-poll and the exit poll surveys. [My emphasis in bold]

The Press Council, therefore, requests the Press to abide by the following guideline in respect of the exit polls:
Guideline: No newspaper shall publish exit-poll surveys, however, genuine they may be, till the last of the polls is over.

Again, what about the TV channels? And are we sure that these guidelines will be adhered to? Let's wait and well, watch. I don't quite relish the prospect of watching them though.

From Banners To Ballots

Our generation of young Indians, consisting of those between the ages of 21 to 28, is very lucky to around in India at this time. When the country, in fact, the whole world, is going through really interesting times. And more than just being witnesses, we have the chance to be a part of the the events that will shape our future, for the good or for the bad. Only time will tell which way we go, but time will also tell whether we tried or not. Trying, is what I am doing, by being a part of the events leading up to and during the General Elections and chronicling my observations and views based on my experiences.

And that begins with my efforts to get the Voter ID Card. Voting is the best way to express our opinions about our elected representatives and unless one votes any criticism of our elected representatives, their work or the lack of it and any blame on the political system holds no moral value. I hope to get my Voter ID Card as soon as possible and vote for the first time. Feel terrible for not having gotten my ID and voting during elections for the last six years, even though I was eligible.

I also hope to capture various activities from the ground on how parties mobilize workers and voters, on how the rallies and other campaign activities are held, how various media - different forms, languages and affiliations are reacting to the the election events and what do those who matter the most - the people have to say, or not have to say about the elections. I will also be keen on observing how the urban youth respond to the election activities and see how much of an interest they have in contributing to the most important activity in our democratic process - the elections.